As a business owner, you can find new tech popping up everywhere you look. From equipment upgrades to HR and finance software, it can be challenging to decide how and when to invest. Implementing change is intimidating. But if you take a close look at some of the benefits you can enjoy, you’ll feel more confident about taking the leap. One of the most worthwhile ways you can embrace innovative software is by automating your online business. Read on to find out why.
Save Time Managing Your Inventory
One of the greatest innovations in business software is the fact that you can finally automate your inventory management, which will save you time and money. With an integrated POS system, you can find the solution for keeping your inventory up to date online and offline. This is a crucial improvement for businesses in every industry.
From robust dive shop software to innovative solutions for music stores and fabric outlets, automating this aspect of your daily business procedures will help you avoid situations that add unnecessary stress. You won’t have to worry about running out of a crucial item and having to wait until you can restock it. An automated system can send you an alert when one of your products is running low.
Reduce Costs with Email Marketing
Emails sent to customers often result in improved sales, and automating your email campaigns and reminders is a great way to reduce the costs of email marketing. If you own a small business and aren’t interested in more comprehensive software solutions for automation, investing in a program to automate your business’s email campaigns is the perfect entry point.
Once you’re up and running, you’ll set up trigger situations that activate the automation protocol. Some effective emails you can automate include:
- Seasonal marketing campaigns
- Customer birthday offers
- Reminders to return to an abandoned cart
- Service and repair updates
Schedule Your Social Media Posts
Embracing automation doesn’t have to be complicated, and one of the quickest ways to jump on board is by scheduling your social media posts. Using built-in automation tools across social media platforms is an effective way to save time while you manage your social media profiles. By automating, you can feel confident that you won’t miss posting an update, but you’ll also free up time to spend on more important and complex tasks.
You probably didn’t even realize that setting up a posting schedule is an aspect of automation. That’s because automating these everyday tasks becomes second nature once you experience the benefits. You realize that you can trust automation to take care of repetitive tasks so that you can put your resources where they’re needed.
Sync Important Customer Data
Keeping your customer data organized and secure can be one of the toughest challenges of being a business owner. If you’ve been relying on distinct programs and systems to track customer data, then you understand how frustrating it is to try to navigate messy, disorganized groups of data.
Automation has made it possible to sync customer data in real time as you add new information and update what you already have. Customer relationship management software (CRM) can play a vital role in your business. If you haven’t explored your options in this area, it’s time to get up to speed.
Auto-Populate Your Calendar
If you work with appointments and events, one of the easiest ways to start automating your business is to set up your calendar to auto-populate new and repeating events. Instead of moving between an online booking system and your internal calendar, you can find a solution that helps you skip the step of manually inputting and managing important dates.
You can find software solutions that give you the tools of both a powerful POS system as well as automated calendar functionality, or you can sign up for automation tools such as Zapier that allow you to set up individual automation protocols with other apps such as your Google Calendar.
The age of automation has arrived, and there are plenty of ways you can embrace automation to simplify running your online business. It’s worthwhile to take some time and document your business’s needs before you research your options. Once you know where you need a little extra help, you’ll be able to select the right tools for the job.